FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Municipal officials in Freehold Township have authorized a shared services agreement with Keyport.
On July 8, Township Committee members approved the agreement through which Freehold Township will provide licensed operational services for Keyport’s water and sewer utilities.
Shared services in New Jersey are conducted under the auspices of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA).
According to the DCA’s website, New Jersey “has allowed shared services since the 1970s and this has led to hundreds of successful arrangements. The shared services agreements reported to the DCA since 2011 have resulted in cumulative savings totaling more than $28 million.”
The DCA states that its objective “is to assist local governments in New Jersey with shared services projects that can reduce costs and improve service delivery.”
In other business at the meeting, the committee members awarded a $395,496 contract to Hunter Jersey Peterbilt, Millstone Township, for the furnishing and delivery of two new single-axle dump trucks.
According to a resolution, Hunter Jersey Peterbilt submitted a bid of $437,496 for the dump trucks. No other bids were received. A $42,000 trade-in reduced the contract to its final amount of $395,496.
Finally, committee members passed a resolution to amend the 2020 municipal budget and to insert a $75,671 modification to the special items of revenue for the 2020 Clean Communities program grant.
According to the resolution, Freehold Township was awarded the grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Communities program.
Municipal officials requested that the director of the Division of Local Government Services approve the insertion of an item of revenue into the budget.
According to its website, “New Jersey Clean Communities is a statewide, comprehensive, litter-abatement program created by the passage of the Clean Communities Act in 1986.
“The act provides a funding source for the program by placing a tax on 15 categories of businesses that may produce litter-generating products.
“The Clean Communities Program Fund generates about $20 million each year and is disbursed each year to municipalities (80%), counties (10%), state parks service (10%) and the New Jersey Clean Communities Council Inc. ($375,000),” according to the website.